Teen Pulse

Every year, joy is brought to children who don’t have the most ideal situation at home.
Each Christmas, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos helps give children in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas, a brighter holiday through the Angel Tree.
The Angel Tree is a Christmas tree set up in the church and is covered with tags listing the requests of children in need of gifts. The parish community members fulfill the tag requests to help families who can’t afford presents for their children.
This year, 586 children received 1,065 gifts, including 24 bicycles, more than 60 gift cards and one mini iPad, in total equaling more than one ton of presents.
This is all made possible through the coordination of three different organizations that work with IHM: Sojourners, a homeless advocacy group; Bienvenidos, a food bank in Santa Fe and Children Youth and Family Services Foster Care. All three of these groups help find children who are in need of Christmas gifts.

Memberships are free and open to all in third through eighth grade.
The White Rock Youth Activity Center is at 10 Sherwood Blvd., 672-1565. The Los Alamos Youth Activity Center is at 475 20th St., 662-9412.

Years after the popular “Lord of The Rings” movie series was filmed, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey” was finally released in theaters Dec. 14.
Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” written as a prequel to “The Lord of the Rings,” is distributed by Warner Bros. and is directed by Peter Jackson, who also directed “The Lord of the Rings.”
The main character, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), is a hobbit — a human-like creature — half the size of a man, with large hairy feet. He lives a comfortable, uneventful life in the peaceful land of The Shire.
One evening, Bilbo is interrupted by a company of 11 dwarves and their leader, Prince Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), along with the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen).
They all convince Bilbo to help them reclaim their old kingdom of Erebor and their treasure, which was captured by the dragon Smaug. The troop travels eastward while being chased by fearsome orcs and then getting captured by goblins.
It’s in the goblin caves that Bilbo meets the creature Gollum, (voice of Andy Serkis) and comes across a simple gold ring, the ring of power.

I don’t know about all of you, but every time the New Year comes around, I like to make a few resolutions. Maybe some of you have decided that this year you will forfeit meat altogether, strive to get an “A” in your hardest class or learn to drive a car without ever denting it.
These pledges are all fine and dandy, but how often do you hear someone making a resolution in relation to fashion?
Style may not be as important as your eating habits, your report card or your car, but it still accompanies you through every single day of the year.
I believe making a resolution in relation to fashion is of the utmost importance. What fun would your personal style be if you didn’t take it up a notch with every New Year?
I applaud those of you who have already made a fashion-conscious commitment, such as learning to walk in high heels, vowing never to step into a pair of mom jeans again or deciding that future purchases will be only those that flatter your figure.
While these goals may be fashion-focused, they are very individual. We need a New Year’s resolution that everyone can adopt and undertake.
The best fit is what I have dubbed wearable individualism — which is a fancy way of saying that you must use your style to reflect your personality uniquely.

I can’t quite believe it’s already 2013. Everyone has already made New Year’s resolutions and is leaving 2012 in the dust.
But last year isn’t about to just disappear. It didn’t just leave with some of the most periodically significant events in history — the presidential election and the Olympics, for example — 2012 also left the legacy of one of the craziest years in fashion.
Haute couture exploded as designers sought new ways to make unique clothing and accessories.
Silhouettes ballooned when designers like Comme des Garçons decided to make shirts and dresses excessively large and stiff (so that the models looked as if they were in giant flattened plum costumes) but something in all the grandeur still screamed fashion.
The amount of color and print on the runway mushroomed. Color blocking, metallics, jewel tones and newly modern colors like ox blood red and mustard yellow made flashy appearances in multiple fashion shows.
We saw pants patterned with palm trees, exotic flowers and different types of animal prints.
Sparkles and giant accessories dominated shows and even massive, feather-like “loofah” dresses nearly engulfed models.
And yet, all of this was translated into a more human, consumer-oriented, wearable form.

“Life of Pi” is a beautiful film. It is an adaptation of a best-selling book with the same title, by Yann Martel.
The film is incredibly visually captivating and filled with gorgeous special effects and magnificent cinematography.
In the film’s plot, the protagonist, Piscine Molitor Patel, also known as Pi, discusses faith and his life’s story with a young Canadian writer.
Pi tells the younger man of his fascination with all religions from an early age. Subsequently, the protagonist discusses his shipwrecked journey across the Pacific Ocean while sharing a life raft with an adult Bengal tiger called Richard Parker.
The film is presented in an incredibly dream-like manner and involves many serial images.
One small problem with the film is that, as a viewer, one gets the sense that there are elements missing from the original novel.
Another is that the conclusion is somewhat weak and this ultimately diminishes the sense of wonder that the rest of the film worked so hard to establish.
It is almost as if the film becomes a fable, a spiritual journey rather than a realistic depiction of true events.